Batman & the Dirigible of Doom

[hildy]

I found this while reading the first Batman Chronicles trade paperback that collects his older Golden Age appearances in chronological order. This adventure appeared in Detective Comics #33 dated November 1939. The dirigible is used to shoot death rays at an unsuspecting population of Manhattan. The story was more notable for introducing Batman's

Comments

[richgoth]

"Dr. Carl Kruger has such a Napoleonic complex, he even looks like Napoleon. He joins with three other scientists, and a private army, to form the Scarlet Horde. (Oddly, while their leaders wear scarlet, the Scarlet Horde apparently all wear green.) They attack New York with death rays, and Batman flies to the defense. He infiltrates the Horde, fakes his own death, wrecks the Dirigible of Doom, and has an aerial battle with Dr. Kruger."

"The Dirigible of Doom story was also the first appearance of Batman's origin, a page-and-a-half sequence called "The Batman -- Who He Is and How He Came to Be". Since the Scarlet Horde story follows immediately afterwards, I've chosen to treat this as part of that story. I'll cover the origin specifically when I get to Batman #1, where it was reprinted."

"Bat-trivia: Gerry Conway also reworked this story in the '80s, with Dr. Kruger becoming "Colonel Blimp". (According to the dictionary, "Colonel Blimp" was a 1937 cartoon-strip character with pompous, reactionary views. I guess Conway just liked the name.)"